Eighteen hunting dogs have been stolen in the forests of South East Trinidad during a tracking game.

President of the South East Hunters Association (SEHA), Mohan Bholasingh, said thieves lured the hunting dogs away from their owners. Once they have them in their possession, the thieves then disguise the stolen animals by repainting them.

’They alter the appearance of the dogs and sell them in other districts so that they would not be recognised,’ Bholasingh said.

He said he himself had paid $2,000 for a hunting dog which he spent four years training, but lost it in the forest while hunting recently.

’Hunters have been reporting the loss of hunting dogs every weekend since the season started,’ Bholasingh said.

The Foxhound, he said, was the most popular breed of hunting dogs and had to be trained from the age of ten months to hunt in the forests.

The Nariva Mayaro Hunters Group also reported the loss of a number of hunting dogs over the past three weeks.

Group president, Daren Ali, urged hunters to tattoo their initials and phone number on the inside of the dog’s ears.

’We don’t know for sure how the dogs are lost but would like to think that in a case of them wandering about, the owners can be informed,’ he said.